Mother, May I
by J Hill
Summary: A mature and (hopefully) unique approach to finally bringing Batman and Catwoman together...there is a lot of symbolism, so please keep an open-mind :)


"Mother, May I" by J. Hill  
  
Edited by: Kat Richard  
  
"Speak to me, dammit!" she shouted as he violently forced her down again onto the cold, unforgiving alleyway floor. Her form-fitting costume tore at the right hip as she skidded across whatever may have dried up and died inside this particularly hopeless crack in the gruesome Gotham City grid. It was a tear to match the others. Two along her sleek and strong yet waning arms. Three across her arched and solid yet deteriorating back. The last set, a horrific four down her long, shapely yet practically useless legs.  
  
After such an unexpected and unexplainable barrage from her attacker, Catwoman could barely find the courage or the determination to rise to her feet and face further heartbreak. He seemed to care nothing for her flesh and blood no matter what shape or state it was in. It created a combination of confusion and empathy in Catwoman. This furious monster had cornered her and uncharacteristically ambushed her. He pushed and shoved her around with only his closed fists, with all the seeming frustration of an elementary school-aged boy on a playground whose pride was hurt by the sticks and stones of his peers.   
  
The Batman, whom most Gotham denizens believed to be merely a myth but seemed more real than ever to Catwoman at the present moment, stood as calm as a gravestone. His fists were tightly clenched as his prey used her last ounce of will to grab hold of him for dear life. She wrapped her arms around him, the embrace of a woman buried hopelessly in the woeful trenches of unattainable and absolute love, and kissed the Dark Knight in the only place where his armor exposed his naked humanity: his mouth. His lips didn't twitch with her first kiss. A second, however, would bring slight recognition. It required a third kiss for the Batman to begin melting away his icy demeanor and return Catwoman's heated and loving affection.   
  
"You weren't going to kill me," Catwoman whispered between kisses to the beast she had managed to briefly and barely soothe. She maintained her grace even as the chilling night air burned her open wounds here in one of the many blackhearts of the city. "So, speak to me...tell me why you want to hurt me."   
  
Still, the Batman's frustrations continued to tear at his insides. His fists remained clenched, the leather of his gloves crackling under the resulting intensity. He was not ready to let go of the struggle.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
"Let go, Bruce," Selina asked of her lover as they stood before the reflective wall in the bathroom of her apartment. She was fully dressed and ready for the day, while he had been taking an unusual amount of time to prep for even someone as vain as he. Bruce's head was pressed against the mirror, hanging low. Perhaps in self-pity, perhaps self-discovery, Selina was uncertain. She stood behind him, one arm wrapped around his shoulder and the other down at his side, her hand clutching his which held an electric razor. Bruce dropped the razor carelessly, it tumbled and it's plastic frame shattered on the cool slippery tile. He turned and held the comforting Selina as close as he would allow himself to. She now rested her head upon his shoulder and looked back into the mirror.   
  
"You are so tense this morning," Selina commented with straightforward concern. She could feel his back muscles binding up, more so than usual, a fire behind them. "So, speak to me...tell me why you ignore me."  
  
"It's nothing you've done, Selina," Bruce confided in her. He sighed as soon as the words left his mouth, then placed his face inside her neck and kissed it softly. She closed her eyes in anticipation of more, his open lips close to her waiting flesh, but instead he retracted with uncertainty.   
  
Selina pulled her head back, knowing something was certainly amiss. She looked deep into Bruce's steely yet vulnerable eyes. A smile cracked with hope across her face, hope for answers to the pains of her troubled mate. But, he returned nothing other than hidden and consuming emotion.  
  
As she returned her head to his shoulder, Selina caught sight of the infinite and deep scars across Bruce's back. She ran her soft caressing fingertips along each of them, inside and out. Bruce didn't move from where he stood, but he seemed to relax further and further the longer she caressed his old wounds. Selina liked letting her imagination map the origins of every one of Bruce's scars. It was as much of an escape for her as her own glorious adventures.   
  
"I can't pet you all day, Brucie, as appealing as that may be," Selina snickered in his ear. "But I can go out and bring back some breakfast before you have to go in to work today. You can stay here for the meantime and get some more sleep or whatever you would like." Bruce's arms slumped at the notion, and his loving woman felt a hint of satisfaction that she may have eased his burdens somehow. "Is there anything in particular you'd like for breakfast?" Selina asked again with the comparable intent of an eager to please mother.  
  
Bruce moved his head around, gave her a boyish grin, kissed her once but tenderly, and then coyly remarked, "Would a cranberry orange bagel with strawberry cream cheese be a lot to ask?" He followed it up with an oddly effeminate chuckle. "And some skim milk, too?"   
  
Selina had to take a step back at this sudden change in demeanor, although it pleased her. She kissed him on the cheek and strutted toward the bathroom door. Turning, she gave him a suggestive wink before walking out the door.  
  
Bruce held his false smile until the knob on the door clicked shut. His face went pale with shame, as he held himself up against the mirror until he was certain Selina had left the apartment entirely. He even timed in his head how long it would be before she reached her car in the basement and drove away, taking into consideration any stops she might have made along the way. Then, and only then, did Bruce finally walk out of the bathroom to begin his search.  
  
As the master detective picked at and plundered Selina Kyle's personal affects, the Batman hated himself for playing on her sympathy for his own ends. But when he finally held the string of pearls in his hands, the sole purpose of his deception, Batman felt as though he had done what was necessary. Selina Kyle, the Catwoman, had stolen from his mother. She stole the reconstructed string of pearls Martha Wayne had worn the night of the murder of she and her husband. Batman held the pearls tightly in his hand, wishing he never had to let go of them. Wishing his mother could hold him as she did when he was but a babe, with as much love as he now held her necklace. Wishing this was the sign that the struggle was about to end.   
  
~~~~~~~  
  
Catwoman wished he would let go of his defenses. She was kissing him with as much passion as she had kissed any man before, even he. She could feel the Batman's anger subsiding but his frustrations had not left him. Finally, she pulled her moist lips from his, her warm saliva still coating his mouth. She gazed at him with her own frustration, trying to convey how much her heart required answers he seemed unwilling to give.  
  
Catwoman felt her own anger building, as the Batman remained as silent as his very shadow in the Gotham moonlight. She unleashed her claws and with only a moment's hesitation, slashed the Dark Knight across his chest. Purposely, her strike barely penetrated his skin, but it bloodied his chest and desecrated the bat-symbol he so seemingly and proudly guarded himself with. A shield she damned with all her heart.   
  
Still, the Batman would not move or reply. Catwoman lunged toward him, forcing her desperate kisses on him once again. This time, he was absolutely unresponsive yet it was distracting enough to enable Catwoman to reach into his utility belt with her trademark and natural stealth for another clue. What she pulled out might as well have come from the depths of hell, for the sight of it made her feel as low and as vile as the devil himself. It was the pearl necklace of Martha Wayne.   
  
The Batman had allowed Catwoman to find his most treasured remembrance of his slain parents. It was far too difficult for him to make the revelation on his own. She held the pearls in her hands, the necklace weaving in and out of her trembling fingers. Approaching her love now, she stumbled and her face crashed into his waiting chest.   
  
Catwoman's tears of remorse mixed with his blood, and the Batman finally budged. He clutched onto her hand, the one still holding onto the pearls. He squeezed her wrist hard enough to break her grip. With intent, or perhaps not, the necklace was hurled onto the alleyway floor and the fragile bond holding it together broke upon impact. The tick-tickety-tick of the pearls scattering away echoed through the alley, the resulting sound was enough to pierce a soul.   
  
Selina instinctively pulled herself together to turn around and see the escalating horror, but the Batman would not allow her to look. He gripped her shoulders tightly, faced her towards him and pulled her mask away. The swiftness of his current actions was as surprising as his earlier attack.  
  
"Bruce..." Selina whispered, though she knew not why she said it. It merely seemed to be the only proper response as the Batman removed his cowl and looked at her with a smile the lengths of which he had never genuinely worn. Relief suddenly swelled her tired and bruised form, healing it.   
  
"I want to let go," Bruce said, before explaining further. "I've wanted to for some time now, but was afraid of turning to you because of who I thought you...because of who we are." He looked behind Selina at the pearls, dispersed exactly as they had after exploding from around his mother's neck in what now seemed to Bruce an entire lifetime ago. "Help me pick up the pearls again, so I can let go."  
  
It was a request Selina had prayed for for so long, though never knowing quite how it would be asked. As she aided her love in putting together the puzzle of the final lesson Bruce's parents were to teach him, Selina could see the struggle inside fading away. His muscles relaxed as he picked up each of his mother's pearls and held them in his hands like a child marveling at all his treasured marbles. It gave Selina joy and satisfaction. Her own struggle had ended, and after she and Bruce finished collecting the pearls, Selina held the once dark Knight in her arms and they fell asleep together on the cleansing floor of Crime Alley, the place where the legends of Batman and Catwoman would begin anew.  
  
All Characters Owned and Operated by DC Comics and Time/Warner  
  
  
  
  



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